Al Gore leads new ‘Reality’ Coalition to debunk ‘clean coal’ myth

[Phred42]

this would seem to put Gore at odds with Obama and Biden. Should be interesting to watch.

Al Gore leads new ‘Reality’ Coalition to debunk ‘clean coal’ myth.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/04/reality-coalition-launch/

Today, Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, the League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club launched the “Reality” Coalition, a national grassroots and advertising effort to tell a simple truth: there is no such thing as “clean coal.” The coalition is arguing that coal cannot be considered clean until its carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored, and that until coal is truly clean, there should be no new coal-fired power plants built in America. Watch their new ad:

“The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions promoting ‘clean coal’ technology, but in reality, there is not a single large-scale demonstration project in the United States for capturing and safely burying all of coal’s CO2 emissions,” Gore said. “The industry must make good its promise if they truly want to do their part to solve the climate crisis. Until that happens, coal cannot be called ‘clean.’”

[sam sarrha]

1. here are some photos of F'n CLEAN COAL... >>LINKS>>

http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/mountaintop_removal/007/

http://understory.ran.org/2006/11/20/new-video-on-appalachia-and-wells-fargo/

video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AURSRRS-c

and a lot more horrific video
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mountain+topping+coal&search_type=&aq=f

[Richard D]

2. Good for Al

This is a big thorn for me in Obama's energy plan. Ain't no such thing as clean coal.

[bigendian]

3. Staying above politics.

It doesn't matter what party is in charge. Al is going to hold their feet to the fire and we are going to help him do it.

[earth mom]

8. I hope you are right because I'm not seeing much of that happening here on DU.

:argh:

[bananas]

4. "UPDATE Joe Romm critiques the ad here."

Just read the article in the OP, it has this update added at the end:

UPDATE Joe Romm critiques the ad here.

Joe's critique starts out:

Memo to Gore: Don’t call coal ‘clean’ seven times in your ad

Al Gore and a bunch of enviro groups have launched the “Reality” Coalition to tell the public there is no such thing as clean coal.

Their inaugural ad violates a central rule of messaging, rhetoric, and psychology: Don’t keep repeating a strong word the other side is trying to push.That is not just a basic tenet of the 25-century old art of persuasion, but a well-demonstrated principle of modern psychology.

<snip>

[cascadiance]

5. Thank you Al, for not being "bought off!"!

We need more politicians to do the same (and I'm not talking just about Republicans! Many Democrats are just as guilty on this one!)

If Obama wants to really do the right thing on this issue, he'd appoint someone like RFK Jr. as the head of the EPA, who also is a strong opponent to "clean coal"... Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see that happen...

[formercia]

6. Clean Coal =Coal gassification

Sasol in South Africa has been doing it for at least 40 years. They used technology that was developed by IG Farben, financed by Standard Oil and managed by Prescott Bush during WWII.

This is why Junior is pushing 'Clean Coal.'

[Gregorian]

7. With an honest media we wouldn't even need this coalition.

This is really pissing me off!

I took an advanced thermodynamics course once upon a time, and we briefly discussed the simple facts of mining and burning coal. End of subject. Done. There were no students who objected or resisted or refused to believe it. It's a fact. Mercury and nuclear particulates are indeed emitted from these noxious facilities.

Another problem is that population (which is the major factor behind all of our consumption) is absolutely unspeakable. I can't even get a forum on the subject established HERE of all places.

I'm just about ready to say the hell with the human race. Let them stew in their own juices.

But, we could turn the wonderful, convenient, bright, intelligent, disaster around if we had people all pulling in the same direction. But as it stands, we have Palin-brained people all over the place.

We could have the simple truth going out over our media networks. This is where people like Karl Rove should simply be hung, or better yet crucified, for confusing our very important media system.